Album Review

Accomplished guitarist Gary Lucas sends listeners on a multicolored carousel of "songs for children." He marches Jewish fight song singalongs, strums out Marx Brothers' tunes, and fingerpicks delicate acoustic originals. Busy Being Born includes great slide guitar; a Fiddler on the Roof tune; a traditional tune about turning clay into a dreydel done Ritchie Valens style; and what Lucas calls "an anti-lullaby" with a narrative reminiscent of Nick Cave's from-the-depths voice that's sure to frighten kids in a delicious way. Recommended for old and young alike. In all, the album is a rare, successful combination of silly kid-appeal and adult-sized ability, wrapped around a tweaked eccentricity that only the stodgy couldn't enjoy.

Biography

Born: 1952 in Syracuse, NY

Genre: Alternative

Years Active: '70s, '80s, '90s, '00s, '10s

When Gary Lucas was nine, his dad suggested he take up playing the guitar. Although he followed his dad's suggestion, Lucas focused more on the French horn that he played for his elementary-school band, and continued to play that instrument until getting kicked out of his high-school band. Lucas then focused wholly on the guitar, and played in various groups throughout the '60s. As a campus station music director during his second year at Yale, Lucas saw Captain Beefheart...